


Not the Boss

by Ellie226



Series: Mark/El [22]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Age Play, Daddy Kink, F/M, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-23
Updated: 2012-09-23
Packaged: 2017-11-14 20:33:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/519248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie226/pseuds/Ellie226
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes it's hard to make that transition.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not the Boss

Mark’s POV

It had been a problem for a few weeks. I was busy with a big case at work, and El had changed jobs. She loved her new job, but in the time leading up to leaving her old job, she’d worked crazy hours to get everything done.

The deal was, with the new job, she’d have different hours again. Also, she’d agreed to take a long weekend between the old job and the new one. Five consecutive days off, and no more training potential families.

She’d been getting herself up to speed at the new agency though, which meant she was working a lot of hours again. It was temporary. I was working so much, I had probably gotten overly flexible with the time she spent at the office because I knew that I was working too much.

It was definitely getting to her, and that became very obvious one Friday. When I walked through the door, exhausted and eager to spend some time with my baby, I found her reading a book.

I should have been happy. We’d spent a lot of time in therapy discussing things that El enjoyed doing. Stuff that she wanted to do rather than stuff she had to do as part of treatment. Knitting, yoga, writing, and coloring had all become therapeutic tools. Dr. Finnegan had stressed the importance of El having at least three things that she chose to do simply for the enjoyment of them.

One of them was reading. An inveterate reader, we no longer kept boxes of cereal on the table during breakfast because they distracted her. Along with taking hot baths and playing on the swings at the park, she’d come up with a list of things that she wanted to do.

To come home and find her reading was a good thing. That wasn’t what concerned me. It was when I leaned over to kiss her, saying, “Hey princess. How was your day?”

El’s POV

When Daddy came home, I was lying on the couch, reading a book. It had been a long day, at the end of a long week, that had really been the end of a long month. I was enjoying having some quiet time to myself.

So, with my blanket thrown over myself, and Stella at my side, I focused on the completely trashy and somewhat embarrassing novel that I had downloaded onto my Kindle. Daddy stopped to kiss me before he went to the bedroom, saying something.

I nodded, not really paying attention to him; I’d just gotten to a good part, and I wanted to get more reading in before I had to stop and do something boring.

He backtracked, “Hi El,” he told me, sounding weird, “Did you have a good day?”

“s’fine,” I murmured, focused on my book.

That is, I was focused on my book, until Daddy tugged my Kindle out of my hands. Squatting next to the couch, he smiled at me.

“Hey princess.”

“Daddy! I was reading that,” I made a grab, but he held it out of my reach.

He shook his head, “What do you say when someone asks about your day?”

“I told you it was fine.”

“You did, and you know how I feel about that word little girl. What do you say next?”

“Daaaaddddyyyyyy,” I whined, frustrated, “I’m-”

He cut me off, laying one finger over my lips, “I asked what you say, not what you would whine. Do you need some time to think about it?”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It was going to be one of those weekends. “My day was okay, Daddy. How was your day?”

“It was long, and I’m very happy to be home with my princess.” Leaning forward again, he gave me Eskimo Kisses before standing up and handing the Kindle back. “I’m going to go change out of my work clothes. I’ll be back in a second baby.”

I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at his retreating back, returning to my book. If he was going to be bossy, I didn’t want to be too bratty.

Mark’s POV

Retreating to the bedroom, I ignored her antics. Back turned or not, I knew what kind of mood she was in. I’d get dressed, then we could eat dinner. Hopefully, having a whole weekend uninterrupted would help fix some of this.

When I came back out of the bedroom, she was still sprawled on the couch, as focused on her book as she’d been before.

“Are you hungry yet baby?” I asked.

She didn’t bother to look up at me, “I want Thai food.”

“Try again Eleanor,” I warned, my tone still light.

Her voice took on a sing song quality as she said, “I’d like Thai food please. Could we please order that for dinner tonight, oh favorite Daddy?”

I wasn’t stupid enough to think that she was joking. That was defiance pretending to be humour, and she knew what the rules were.

“Do we need to have a discussion about how we talk to each other?”

She stiffened, shaking her head. “Sorry.” She actually put her Kindle down, although she avoided eye contact by lifting Stella up and fiddling with her. “Thai food sounds really good to me.”

“Alright princess,” I told her, running my fingers through her hair. It wasn’t the most heartfelt apology, but I’d been giving her a lot of freedom lately. It made sense that she wouldn’t be able to just fall back into our normal roles. “Chicken pad pak?”

“Yes please. Spring rolls too?”

We agreed, and I went to call in the order. When I returned to the living room, she’d gone back to her book, and I decided to let her read until dinner got there. She was entertaining herself, and if that’s how she wanted to do it, that was fine. Grabbing my own book, we read in companionable silence until the delivery man arrived.

After setting the dining room table, we sat down to eat dinner. Things were going okay until I asked about the upcoming audit at work.

“We’re not talking about that right now,” she said, her voice sounded odd but familiar. “We need to-”

I cut her off then, “Excuse me? You want to try that again?”

“I said we’re not talking about that.” As she explained that to me, she looked up, making eye contact. Her voice was calm and firm, and I realized when I had heard her use that tone before. She only used it when she was making work calls.

“El,” I took care to speak quietly, not wanting to spook her or force an argument, “you don’t talk to me like that. You’re not at work right now little girl, and you’re not in charge. If you don’t want to discuss something, that’s fine, but you don’t try to redirect me like I’m a client.”

“I’m not treating you like a client.” It was the same voice, calm, soothing, the tone she used to placate drug addicts and people who were mid-psychotic break.

Reaching for her hand, I replied, “Yes you are, and you need to stop now please. You’re at home; you’re not a grown up social worker right now. You’re my little girl, and little girls don’t talk to their daddies like that. Try again please.”

She looked at me, something flashing through her eyes that was definitely not the grown up that she was at work. Then, she took a deep breath, “I’ve told you that we’re not discussing it.”

“If that’s how you feel about it,” I said, keeping my voice calm and firm. I took her arm, hoisting her out of her chair and then applied my hand to her backside half a dozen times. “You can go and sit in time out until you’re ready to behave.”

Releasing her arm, I nodded toward the corner, “Go on princess. You let me know when you’re ready to talk nicely.”

El’s POV

I couldn’t believe that he had spanked me just because I didn’t want to talk about stupid work. Six months ago, we weren’t even allowed to talk about work at the dinner table.

Well, he could just sit by himself then. I had been perfectly polite. There was no reason to swat me or send me to time out, and I certainly wasn’t going to pretend that there was. I sat down on the chair he had designated as the time out chair, the ‘naughty’ chair, and crossed my arms. 

I listened to his fork scraping across his plate as he ate. It was the only sound in the too quiet room, and I could feel everything expanding inside me, until I finally spat out, “You can’t make me talk about it! Why do you have to be so damn bossy?”

He stopped moving, and I listened to the silence for a moment before he said, “Time out means that you’re quiet Eleanor Rose; I’m going to ignore that outburst, but if you curse at Daddy again, you’re going to get your mouth washed out with soap.”

I huffed angrily, wanting to scream at him but not willing to risk getting my mouth soaped out. It tasted gross. I wanted to kick the wall too, but that was just going to mean I got my bottom smacked again.

Resolving to just sit quietly, I waited. I’d never won one of these standoffs before, but there was a first time for everything. And today, I was right. Dr. Finnegan had told me that talking was an important way to set appropriate boundaries. That was all I was doing.

Mark’s POV

We’d done this before. Dr. Finnegan had discouraged me from using time out as a punishment, and I mostly managed to avoid it. Optimally, El was supposed to take herself to time out as a way of re-regulating when she felt overwhelmed. It was the physical equivalent of her safewording.

Today was one of those less than optimal situations, when I decided that she was going to go to time out until she was ready to behave. She controlled when she got out. It wasn’t a punishment; I was giving her time to collect herself and consider how she wanted the evening to go.

I had a pretty good idea of how the entire weekend was going to go, but I couldn’t help but try to salvage it. Deciding to give her a little more time, I began clearing the table. When that was done, I sat back down and waited, watching her. Sometimes, time out felt more like a punishment for me than a way for El to have a break and think.

Hoping that I’d given her enough time to really think about things, I decided to try to help her along. “Baby? Are you ready to come out and talk nicely?”

“You’re bossy, and I don’t wanna talk about the audit,” her voice was sticky with tears, and I silently cheered. She sounded little, and that was a good first step.

Thinking about Dr. Finnegan, I said, “It’s been a hard couple of weeks for you, hasn’t it kiddo. I’ve been working way too much, and you’ve had to pretend to be a grown up.”

“Not pretending,” she muttered.

“And now I’m here, and I want you to behave yourself, and it’s overwhelming. I was too busy, and I wasn’t being a very good daddy, was I sweetheart.”

“You always tell me what to do.”

I didn’t want to rush things, but she sounded dangerously close to tears. “Baby? Do you want to come out of time out now? We can cuddle together and talk about the weekend.”

“Don’t wanna talk about the audit.”

I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “What do you say when you don’t want to talk about something?”

“I telled you I didn’t want to.”

“You did. You used your big, scary, social worker voice, and you weren’t very nice to Daddy. Do you want to try again?”

She sniffled, then asked quietly, “Can I come out now?”

I wanted to scoop her up, but I forced myself to continue talking in the same quiet, calm, firm voice that Dr. Finnegan used. “I don’t know. You’re the one who controls your behavior. Do you think you’re ready to do that?”

That got a nod, and I didn’t have the heart to insist that she actually say it. “Come ‘ere princess.”

She got up slowly, making her way toward me. Once she stood in front of me, she twisted her hands together and stared at her feet.

“Will you come and cuddle with me in rocking chair baby?” 

That got a silent nod, and I stood and picked her up. Carrying her to the living room, I got us both settled in the rocking chair. Stella and her blanket were still on the couch, and she reached to grab them.

Once she was curled on my lap, blanket spread over us both with Stella in her arms and her thumb in her mouth, I began rocking and waiting.

El’s POV

Sometimes, I hated it when Daddy was so quiet. I knew what he was doing, and I knew how it worked. I just couldn’t seem to stop myself from talking though.

Thumb in my mouth, I mumbled, “Sorry I was bad.”

He began rubbing my back then, “You’re not ever bad. I didn’t like the way you were talking to me earlier, but you’re still my good girl.”

“Sorry I was mean,” I whispered. I felt like I’d been bad, but he didn’t like that word.

“Apology accepted. Do you understand why I didn’t like how you were acting?”

I nodded. I got it, but I hoped that he wouldn’t make me tell him exactly. It was all tangled up in my head, and I didn’t feel like trying to make the words come out in the right order.

“I’m sorry too,” he apologized, stroking the same soothing rhythm as always on my back. “I haven’t been a very good daddy lately, and that’s been confusing for you.”

I nodded a little, acknowledging what he was saying. It was too much work to talk about all of this stuff, and I wanted to just move on with our night.

Daddy wasn’t good at moving on. “Do you remember what we did last time we had trouble remembering who was the boss?”

I whined a little, hiding my face against his chest. “No diapers, Daddy! I can ‘member to be a good girl without them.”

Mark’s POV

She might be arguing about being treated like a baby, but her actions told me that I was on the right track. She was acting little little again.

“You’re always my good girl,” I reminded her. “I think that we need to have some baby time so that we’re both reminded who is the grown up and who is the little girl.”

She whined some more, but I decided to just get it over with. 

“If you’re my very little girl, then we’re going to have to use the rules for very little girls. That means diapers and bottles, and somebody is definitely taking a nap tomorrow.”

She nodded, face pressed to my chest, “And I gotta stay with you all the time Daddy. I know. But only wet diapers, right? Because I was only a little bit naughty so I only need a little reminder.”

I rubbed her back, “This isn’t a punishment; this is just to remind you princess.”

“Please Daddy? Just...the diapers...” she trailed off again, embarrassed, and I nodded.

“You know the rules about that. If you behave yourself, I’ll assume that the rules we always use for this will be enough. If you start getting too big for your britches this weekend, then we’ll have to reassess.”

“No britches Daddy.”

I smiled, nuzzling against the top of her head. I’d forgotten how much she hated that saying. “Sorry. You understand what Daddy is telling you though?”

She nodded.

“Alright then princess. Do you want to eat some more dinner before we get your bath and your jammies?”

She pondered this for a moment, asking, “Do I gotta go to bed once I have my jammies?”

“Not if you behave yourself for me. I think we can stay up to our usual time if you follow all the rules nicely.”

She sighed, relaxed in my arms. “Can I have a snack?”

“Are you still hungry for dinner?” I was trying to be nice, but it had been too many weeks of too much flexibility because of our hours, and I needed to remember that part of being nice was enforcing the rules.

“I’m not hungry right now, Daddy. I prob’ly be hungry ‘gain before bed though.”

I smiled, tickling her a little, “Hungry for what cookie monster?”

She made a face, pretending to think for a moment. “I dunno Daddy. Prob’ly cookies would be delicious though.”

“You can have cookies with your bottle later, princess. Do you want more Thai food now?”

She shook her head no, and I helped her stand up. “Then it’s time for your bath. Is it a bubbles night?”

That got a nod, and I picked her up. As we walked upstairs, I kept up the usual patter about bubble baths and trips to the park. With every step, she relaxed more, and I started thinking that maybe the weekend wouldn’t be that bad.


End file.
